Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Griffith Dragonlake" data-source="post: 3908050" data-attributes="member: 40379">Helmet RulesMy all-time favourite hands-down rule from AD&amp;D (1st Ed.) is the helmet rule.&nbsp; While I don't have the DMG in front of me, it goes something like:If your character does not wear a helmet, then intelligent opponents have a 50% chance of hitting your AC 10 head.&nbsp; Unintelligent opponents have a 1/3 or 33% chance of hitting your unprotected head.This totally jived my experience in the SCA and it still bears out 28 years later!I have kept this rule as a house rule in all my games since then.&nbsp; Basically I developed a matrix indexing the AC of the helm versus the AC of the body armour.&nbsp; If the helm has a better AC than attacks are only 33%.&nbsp; If the helm has a worse AC then it has a 50% value.In addition, I assigned penalties to surprise and listen (later search, spot, etc.) based on whether the helm covered the ears and how much if any of the eyes were covered.&nbsp; How much penalties to surprise, listen, spot, search, etc. is the tank willing to take?In 2nd edition, this allowed me to grant clerics the ability to wear heavy armour but require them to remove their helms to cast spells.&nbsp; This equated to wearing medium armour but looked a lot cooler in my opinion.&nbsp; Fighters wore grete heaumes and plate mail while clerics wore plate mail but were bare-headed and bare-handed.Granted this was probably handwaved by 99% of the DMs out there.&nbsp; But for me, this rule went a long way towards suspension of disbelief just as the elimination of chainmail bikinis, plate armour bras, and horned helmets.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Griffith Dragonlake, post: 3908050, member: 40379"] [b]Helmet Rules[/b] My all-time favourite hands-down rule from AD&D (1st Ed.) is the helmet rule. While I don't have the DMG in front of me, it goes something like: If your character does not wear a helmet, then intelligent opponents have a 50% chance of hitting your AC 10 head. Unintelligent opponents have a 1/3 or 33% chance of hitting your unprotected head. This totally jived my experience in the SCA and it still bears out 28 years later! I have kept this rule as a house rule in all my games since then. Basically I developed a matrix indexing the AC of the helm versus the AC of the body armour. If the helm has a better AC than attacks are only 33%. If the helm has a worse AC then it has a 50% value. In addition, I assigned penalties to surprise and listen (later search, spot, etc.) based on whether the helm covered the ears and how much if any of the eyes were covered. How much penalties to surprise, listen, spot, search, etc. is the tank willing to take? In 2nd edition, this allowed me to grant clerics the ability to wear heavy armour but require them to remove their helms to cast spells. This equated to wearing medium armour but looked a lot cooler in my opinion. Fighters wore grete heaumes and plate mail while clerics wore plate mail but were bare-headed and bare-handed. Granted this was probably handwaved by 99% of the DMs out there. But for me, this rule went a long way towards suspension of disbelief just as the elimination of chainmail bikinis, plate armour bras, and horned helmets. [/QUOTE]

Verification